The Online Publishers Association will unveil new research today concluding that Web users who visit sites of their members are more desirable to some marketers than online visitors at Yahoo, AOL, MSN and other portals. But digital advertising executives say it doesn't necessarily make sense to compare the portals, which offer vast reach, to sites of individual publishers, which often serve niche audiences. ...Read the whole story

Aiming to expand beyond niche self-help sites, Waterfront Media on Wednesday formally launched EverydayHealth.com, a broad-based health site built around 40 "condition centers" covering everything from diabetes to schizophrenia. The site has enlisted 14 specialists from top medical institutions to oversee relevent centers and interact with members through blogs, online chats and by answering health questions online. ...Read the whole story

Online recruiting giant Monster is teaming with the Akron Beacon Journal to start a co-branded job section on the newspaper's Ohio.com site. The deal will replace CareerBuilder, the current national job listings provider on Ohio.com, with Monster by mid-November. ...Read the whole story

Google Wednesday began a public beta test of a new tool aimed at helping paid search marketers increase conversion rates by testing multiple configurations of the same page. The tool, Google Website Optimizer, allows site owners to test different headlines, copy and images on sites to evaluate which combinations give the most conversions as represented by sales, signups or other actions. ...Read the whole story

Tom Freston, ousted as CEO of Viacom after he failed to acquire social networking site MySpace, will receive a severance package worth up to $84.4 million in severance, accured salary and stock payments, the company reported in an SEC filing Wednesday ...Read the whole story

R/GA has launched a mobile unit, the agency announced Wednesday. Richard Ting, vice president, executive creative director, who has been with the agency since 2001, will head the unit. ...Read the whole story